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In this book you will find an astounding 400 biographies that highlight the history and personnel of the great bands. It is organized into four sections: “The Big Bands--Then” (the scene, the leaders, the public, the musicians, vocalists, arrangers and businessmen, recordings, radio, movies and the press); “Inside the Big Bands” (profiles of 72 top bands); “Inside More of the Big Bands” (hundreds of additional profiles arranged by categories (“The Arranging Leaders,” “The Horn-playing Leaders,” etc.); and “The Big Bands Now.” The Big Bands is one of the best books on the subject. It is both readable and an invaluable reference source for the study of jazz standards since many were written by big band leaders or musicians or were popularized through their performances and recordings. The index is comprehensive with names but lists no songs. George T. Simon was one of the original organizers and members of the Glenn Miller Orchestra for which he played the drums. He was also one of the first writers for Metronome Magazine where he remained from 1935 until 1955.
The bestselling fully-illustrated Tom Gates series is back with a new book! This book is VERY important because it contains BISCUITS, BANDS and all my (doodled) plans to make DogZombies the BEST band in the world.
Arthur Rollini describes his career as a tenor saxophonist in the big US jazz orchestras. In the 1920s he played in London with the Savoy Dance Orchestra and on his return to the USA he joined the nascent Benny Goodman Orchestra, before working in the bands of the Dorsey Brothers, Paul Whiteman and Ray McKinley. He thus tells an insider's story of the foremost white swing orchestras. Rollini's account of the early development of jazz in England and Europe and of the growth of the Goodman Orchestra will be of great use to jazz historians, as will his discussion of his brother Adrian's career. The book contains a number of rare photographs.
During the 1930s, swing bands combined jazz and popular music to create large-scale dreams for the Depression generation, capturing the imagination of America's young people, music critics, and the music business. Swingin' the Dream explores that world, looking at the racial mixing-up and musical swinging-out that shook the nation and has kept people dancing ever since. "Swingin' the Dream is an intelligent, provocative study of the big band era, chiefly during its golden hours in the 1930s; not merely does Lewis A. Erenberg give the music its full due, but he places it in a larger context and makes, for the most part, a plausible case for its importance."—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World "An absorbing read for fans and an insightful view of the impact of an important homegrown art form."—Publishers Weekly "[A] fascinating celebration of the decade or so in which American popular music basked in the sunlight of a seemingly endless high noon."—Tony Russell, Times Literary Supplement
From Palace to Palais, the musicians who played in the big bands tell their own stories, bringing to life an unforgettable era. Pre-war reminiscences give an insight into a never-to-be-forgotten era, when London's nightclubs were the haunts of the aristocracy and of royalty, and the Prince of Wales would jump at any opportunity to play drums with the resident band. The elegant world of top hat, white ties and tails has gone for ever, but in Talking Swing the musicians relive those nights when they played for as long as the customers wanted to dance - often into the early hours of the morning. Out of London, there were the variety tours, where the band was top of the bill and there wasn't an ...
Where did big bands and swing music go? They didn't leave. . . but many Americans actually believe they disappeared along with ballrooms, jukeboxes, bobby sox and zoot suits decades ago. Band leader Brooks Tegler, who has recreated the great music of World War II with his Army Air Corps Review Big Band, offers a good response. "In order for something to come back, it needs to have gone away. Big bands have wrongly been put in that category. They never went away." And that's the essence of the chapters of my book about America's big bands, ballrooms and dancing's past and present. And there's a good look at the future through the eyes of a number of young bandleaders from the east to west coa...
The story, based on extensive individual interviews, of the women’s swing bands that toured extensively during World War II and after -- a kind of “League of their Own” for jazz.
Sittin In with the Big Band: Jazz Ensemble Play-Along is written at the easy to medium-easy level. It provides an opportunity to play along with a professional jazz ensemble to improve your playing 24/7. As you play along and listen to the outstanding players in the band, youll learn about blend, style, phrasing, tone, dynamics, technique, articulation, and playing in time, as well as a variety of Latin, swing, ballad and rock styles. Performance tips and suggestions are included in each book. Books are available for alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, bass, guitar and drums.Titles include: Vehicle, Sax to the Max, Nutcracker Rock, Fiesta Latina, Now What, Goodbye My Heart, Two and a Half Men, Burritos to Go, Drummin Man, Swingin Shanty and Play That Funky Music.Features: Eleven big-band charts arranged by a variety of top writersPlay-along CD with demo trackSolo improvisation opportunities
The marvelous words and music of the swing era with the bands and vocalists that made them famous.
The first book to cover a uniquely transformative period in the life of one of the 20th century's most-lasting icons.Nearly 50 years after his death, Louis Armstrong remains one of the 20th century's most iconic figures. Popular fans still appreciate his later hits such as "Hello, Dolly!," "What a Wonderful World," and "La Vie En Rose," while in the jazz community, he remains venerated for his groundbreaking innovations in the 1920s. The achievements of Armstrong's middle years, however, possess some of the trumpeter's most scintillating and career-defining stories. But the story of this crucial time has never been told in depth - until now. Between 1929 and 1947, Armstrong transformed himse...